Humidifiers are particularly used to regulate the hygrometry of the ambient air, either in workplaces or in areas in which merchandise is stored.
Such humidifiers are virtually all of the same design and use the same principle: namely they consist of a housing made of folded sheet metal and plastic enclosing the various electrical control means, and within which is located a steam tank or cylinder which is filled with water for the generation of steam.
The water, in which two or three electrodes supplied with alternating-current electrical power are immersed, is brought to its boiling point and converted into steam, which is evacuated by means of a length of tubing which opens onto the top of the tank. In order to preserve the initial properties of the water, and in order to prevent an excessive concentration of conductive mineral salts, a portion of the water, which is proportional to the amount of steam produced, is evacuated and replaced.
This type of humidifier has many disadvantages, particularly with regard to the evacuation of the water, with the evacuation being performed at the bottom of the tank, where the calcareous deposit gathers and thus clogs the evacuation valve, thereby causing equipment failure.
Furthermore, such tanks must be cleaned regularly, which requires that they be removed. This operation involves numerous handling steps, particularly the disconnection of the water inlet and water outlet lines, each of which has a clamping collar at each of its ends; the disconnection of the electrodes; the cleaning of the various parts; and finally reconnection of the entire assembly, without omitting the cleaning or replacement of the various filters and sealing joints.
Furthermore, it is necessary to design a different housing for each humidifier with a different capacity; and the assembly of such humidifiers takes a relatively long time.
The present invention makes it possible to remedy these disadvantages by proposing a steam humidifier which is very compact, which contains only a few fittings and connections, and which therefore is easy to assemble and to maintain, and furthermore whose manufacturing cost is very low.